1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephony terminal apparatus that can be used for a car telephone, a portable telephone, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known an email transfer service that allows an email to be transferred from a user""s portable telephone terminal apparatus to a telephone address of a called party. This email transfer service has been available with a portable telephone system, such as a personal digital cellular telecommunication system (PDC) known as an analog cellular system or a digital cellular system, and a personal handyphone system (PHS). Email that can be transferred is generally limited to a message consisting of a character string of a few tens to a few hundreds of characters. When such email is received, an incoming call sound or ringing sound announcing an arrival of email is sounded and the email is saved in a receiving box. The email is read out and displayed on a display monitor in response to an instruction given by a user.
The conventional telephone terminal apparatuses mentioned above, however, have been posing a disadvantage in that the user has to identify a sender and contents of an email message by reading the message shown on the display monitor after hearing the incoming call sound, which is given upon an arrival of the email.
There has been another disadvantage in that the email transfer service enables only an email that can be displayed on a display monitor to be transferred, making it impossible to transfer an audible type of information that also allows a message to be transmitted.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone terminal apparatus that allows a called party to check a sender of email or contents of a message in the email without the need for displaying the email on a display monitor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a telephone terminal apparatus that permits an email displayed on a monitor and that can treat other type of information capable of transmitting a message.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a telephone terminal apparatus capable of reproducing a transferred sound message in various modes.
In one aspect of the invention, a telephony terminal apparatus is constructed for exchanging a message with the other party through a telephone line. The inventive apparatus comprises a memory section that memorizes sound data representing a sound message composed of either of a voice sound and a music sound, a selector section that selects mode information effective to specify a mode of exchanging a message, and a transmitter section that transmits the memorized sound data to the other party together with the selected mode information, thereby enabling the other party to receive the transmitted sound data and to reproduce therefrom the sound message according to the specified mode.
Preferably, the selector section can select mode information specifying a realtime mode effective to enable the other party to receive the sound data and to process the received sound data in realtime to automatically reproduce the sound message as a ringing sound to notify a call termination.
Alternatively, selector section can select mode information specifying a sequential mode effective to enable the other party to receive the sound data when the telephone line is connected after a call termination and effective to process the received sound data to reproduce the sound message after the telephone lines is connected.
Preferably, the telephony terminal apparatus further comprises a collecting section that collects a sound message, and a coding section that compressively encodes the collected sound message into sound data suitable for transmission. Further, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a converter section that converts the sound data representing a sound message composed of a singing voice sound into music data representing a melodious music sound corresponding to the singing voice sound.
Preferably, the transmitter section transmits the memorized sound data to the other party through a wireless telephone line.
In another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a port section that enters a call signal containing mode information from the other party, the mode information specifying a mode of exchanging a message, a receiver section that operates when the mode information specifies a realtime mode for receiving sound data from the other party immediately after the call signal, the sound data representing a sound message composed of either of a voice sound and a music sound, a memory section that stores the received sound data, and a reproduction section that instantly processes the stored sound data to automatically reproduce the sound message as a ringing sound to notify a call termination.
Preferably, the receiver section receives the sound data in a compressively encoded form from the other party, the apparatus further comprising a decoding section that expansively decodes the compressively encoded form of the received sound data. Further, the receiver section receives the sound data from the other party through a wireless telephone line.
In still another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a port section that responds to a call signal from the other party for generating a ringing sound when the call signal contains mode information specifying a sequential mode of exchanging a message, a receiver section that operates when the telephone line is connected to the other party in response to the ringing sound for receiving sound data from the other party, the sound data representing a sound message composed of either of a voice sound and a music sound, a memory section that stores the received sound data, and a reproduction section that processes the stored sound data to reproduce the sound message after the telephone line is connected.
In still another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a writing section that can be operated to make an email message in the form of character data, a memory section that memorizes sound data representing a sound message composed of either of a voice sound and a music sound, an attaching section that operates when the sound message is attached to the email message for merging the sound data to the character data together with mode information specifying a mode of treating the sound message and the email message, and a transmitter section that transmits the sound data and the character data together with the mode information to the other party, thereby enabling the other party to reproduce the sound message and to display the email message according to the specified mode.
Preferably, the attaching section specifies the mode of treating the sound message and the email message such that the sound message attached to the email message is reproduced as a ringing sound when the email message is opened to display the character data.
Preferably, the attaching section specifies the mode of treating the sound message and the email message such that the sound message is automatically reproduced as a ringing sound at a call termination, and then the email message may be opened to display the character data.
Preferably, the attaching section specifies the mode of treating the sound message and the email message such that the sound message is reproduced if the telephone line is connected after a call termination, and then the email message may be opened to display the character data.
In still another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a port section that responds to a call signal from the other party for generating a ringing sound to notify arrival of an email message accompanied by a sound message, a receiver section that operates when the ringing sound is generated for automatically receiving the email message in the form of character data and for receiving the sound message in the form of sound data representing either of a voice sound and a music sound, a memory section that stores the received character data and the sound data, a reproduction section that operates when the email message is opened for processing the stored sound data to reproduce the sound message, and a display section that operates when the email message is opened for displaying the stored character data.
In still another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a port section that enters a call signal containing mode information from the other party, the mode information specifying a mode of exchanging a message, a receiver section that operates when the mode information specifies a realtime mode for automatically receiving an email message in the form of character data accompanied by a sound message in the form of sound data representing either of a voice sound and a music sound, a memory section that stores the received character data and the sound data, a reproduction section that instantly processes the stored sound data to automatically reproduce the sound message as a ringing sound, and a display section that operates when the email message may be opened after the ringing sound is generated for displaying the stored character data.
In still another aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises a port section that responds to a call signal from the other party for generating a ringing sound to notify arrival of an email message accompanied by a sound message, a receiver section that operates when the telephone line is connected in response to the ringing sound for receiving the email message in the form of character data and for receiving the sound message in the form of sound data representing either of a voice sound and a music sound, a memory section that stores the received character data and the sound data, a reproduction section that operates when the telephone line is connected for processing the stored sound data to reproduce the sound message, and a display section that operates when the email message may be opened after the reproducing of the sound message for displaying the stored character data.
In a further aspect of the invention, the telephony terminal apparatus comprises an input section that provides sound data representing a sound message composed of either of a voice sound and a music sound, an authoring section that authors the sound data to edit the sound message, and a transmitter section that transmits the authored sound data to the other party, thereby enabling the other party to receive the authored sound data and to reproduce therefrom the edited sound message.
According to the present invention, compressed and encoded data consisting of speech voice or singing voice that has been collected, and/or musical data obtained by converting singing voice can be transferred as message data. When the transferred message data is reproduced on a realtime mode, the message data can be output in the form of an incoming call sound or ringing sound. With this arrangement, a sound message of voice or musical data can be transferred, and a calling party can be identified or contents of a message can be grasped by listening to the incoming message data when the message data is reproduced.
Furthermore, a party who has received transferred message data can select between a mode in which transferred message data is automatically received and reproduced on a realtime basis and another mode in which transferred message data is received and reproduced when a incoming call button is pressed to connect the telephone line after the call termination.
Moreover, message data can be attached to an email and transferred. In this mode, a party who has received the transferred email and message data can select between a mode in which the transferred email and message data is automatically received and reproduced on a realtime basis and another mode in which the transferred email and message data is received and reproduced when an incoming call button is pressed. Thus, message data and email can be reproduced in a plurality of reproducing modes.
In addition, it is possible to transfer message data in various modes, such as a mode in which compressed and encoded data or musical data are looped by a predetermined number of times, another mode in which a background music sound is synthesized with the compressed and encoded data, and a further mode in which an accompaniment music sound is added to musical data.
Thus, according to the present invention, audible information capable of transmitting a message in addition to an email can be transferred, and such information can be reproduced in various reproducing modes upon receipt.